Italy ranked 10th in DNV GL top list of the leading 'maritime nations'

This is based on the report published by the classification society, which ranks China first and the US second

According to DNV GL's report '2018 leading Maritime Nations', partially anticipated at SMM trade fair of Hamburg, Italy was ranked 10th along with France, closely following Singapore and just before the Netherlands.

The study focuses on 30 nations, evaluating 4 main dimensions (shipping, maritime finance & law, maritime technology, ports and logistics) giving the first one a 40% 'influence' on the final judgement and 20% to all others.

These dimensions were subsequently split in further 24 indicators, from technical values, like the number of ships or the total domestic handled TEU, transparency and bribery.

The study was developed by evaluating primary sources like companies reports, Clarkson and Drrwerym reports, by using UNCTAD or Banca Mondiali, Transparency International ONG and sometimes also some studies directly handled by Menon, Norway-based consulting and analyses firm specialized in shipping.

The final ranking showed China, the United States and Japan, followed by Germany and South Korea (all fourth). Greece was seventh, followed by the United Kingdom, while Singapore, France and Italy were ranked tenth.

While waiting to read the whole report (DNV GL said it will be ready by early October), few considerations can be evaluated.

According to the report China achieved excellent results in all four evaluated dimensions, being ranked first in shipping and port logistics (7 of the most remarkable ports globally are Chinese), while the USA, actually ranked second, are in fact first in finance & law.

South Korea, as envisaged, is ranked among the top nation due to the strength of its shipyards, but also to the research & development dimension, while Greece ranked 7th, still shows the power of its domestic fleet, therefore being ranked first in the shipping segment.

Back to Italy, excellence wasn't achieved in any of the four dimensions, however while thoroughly evaluating the whole data, we can state that the Italian Peninsula achieved positive results in some specific dimension.

For example what is called by DNV 'the IMO importance' considering it as a “merger between the share of the feet flying the national flag versus the global fleet and the the domestic representatives within IMO, where they were ranked fifth; or even their fleet value, on the basis of which it was ranked sixth.

A further observations focused on 'maritime technology' where Italy is ranked 8th, particularly supported by its shipbuilding industry (fourth globally, based on DNV GL and Mekon).

Italy was ranked 13th, particularly affected by poor customs-clearance performance (22nd out of 30) and second in relation to the number of in-transit tourists, following the USA while being closely followed by Spain.